Ep. 212 Monty Waldin interviews Vito Palumbo (Tormaresca)

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. This podcast is brought to you by Native Grape Odyssey. Native Grape Odyssey is an educational project financed by the European Union to promote European wine in Canada, Japan, and Russia. Enjoy. It's from Europe. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Montewood. My guest today is is the brand manager for the Tomarescu estate, which is part of the Antinori family in Minervino Muurje in Pulia. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. That's okay. I know Minervino Muurje a little bit because that's where my Italian far a normal late attendant father-in-law is from. Very, very beautiful part of the world. Where are you from originally in it? Are you Pullierz or not? Yeah. I'm a DLC. Actually, DLC. G. Pullierz? So you're born, what Imbari or something? Bahri. Bough. Okay. So that's the main town on the coast. So you grew up in Bari. Yes. And you spent most of your time on the beach, I guess. When I was young, now looking at you. Actually, now I'm in captivity in, in Tuscany because, Tormaleski is owned by Antinori. When did when did they buy the estate then? In nineteen eighty eight, it was the fall in love, actually. It was a matter of love, a love affair because they visited, actually, the Boca de lupo state, which is in a state in Castel de Monte area. And it's called Boca de lupo. And at that time, it was owned by another famous, winery of Northern Italy, which was gancia, together with my family. And then Antinologist saw the Alallico grape, the landscape, the town of Minervino, the hospitality, and they decided to invest. Then one year later, they invested in Salent or in another state close between Brindisi and Leche. So that's also in Pulja? Yep. And it's called Maseria Maema. So, basically, we have two estates in two different, maybe the most famous areas for wine production in the region. So just let's with Tormaresca, and we can talk about the other one in a minute, if you like. Let's talk about, Tormaresca. What what are the main wines from that estate that are made with native grape varieties? So, basically, Boca de lupo, it's an estate. It's kind of a boutique wine winery. It's all organic farmed. So all the wines we have, produced our organic wines. And we are focusing, and we are in love and obsessed with Alianico. Alianico is one of the most noble grape of Southern Italy. And so we have two wines based on Alianico, two interpretation of Alianico, Boca de lupo, which is our, let's say, Grand Crew. It's a hundred percent Alianico. And then we have Trent Angeli, which is kind of an introduction to the grape. So it's a blend of allianni cuckabernas ofignon and Sierra. Okay. And that's under the which brand again, just remind us? Boca Dupo. But let's say, the brand is Tormaresque, and then there's these two estates called Boca Druupen north and Masera Maima in Salent in the mouth. So Boca di lupa means wolf mouth. Wolf mouth. Wolf mouth. Yeah. But not good luck. Because that's, in Boca lupa. So in Boca lupa. So if if, when I say goodbye to you today, which hopefully won't it won't be too long. Say in bocca lupa, which means a wolf in your mouth. Yeah. Well, if I invite you to this state, I will say, come to bocca di lupo. It's slightly different. Alright. So that's a little bit about the terroir. What about markets for those particular wines? Well, of course, Pulia, the driving markets of Pulia, are the the German ones. It's German speaking one. So Germany is Switzerland because they love Permitivo. So more for the other state in Saliento. Do they like it because a full bodied red or warming red, or why do they buy it? Why do they buy it? They buy it first. I I wouldn't I shouldn't say it, but, like, they love the fruitiness. They can also sometimes the sweetness of of the grape. We are trying to produce, different partition of Primitivo with more acidity, more barrels, a little bit more of spiciness, the one is called torticoda. But let's say that's what, continental Europe is looking for at the at this moment. It's really one of the the best selling grape of Europe, permitivo. And of course, when we have such numbers, such large numbers, you have different interpretations. Some are really elegant, great wines. Some others can be a little more every day. Yeah. Okay. So within the Tourmoreesco family, are there any other brands that we should know about? Well, for sure, let's say, we are having, there's a a fever on our rose, which is called california. It's made of negromaro, also, of course, it's produced in Salento in the Maseria Miami state. I think we've been lucky, but also can we we focus, we were at the right time at the right place because now there's, let's say, the boom of Rosier that we've seen in the United States and UK, it's moving also to Italy. And Pulia is the most historical Rosier producer, and also the largest consumer of Rosier. So we created this wine, which is very charming because it has a little bit of fruitiness, but also the salinity, which is typical of salento, because we have the vineyards by the sea. It's like a balcony by the sea. And together for with the feature of the wine, then also we play the little bit with the mar marketing. So we do special edition with our young illustrators, we sponsor a music festival in, in the summertime in Polia. We were having fun. Okay. So do you, I mean, you're not gonna tell me that Negro Amarro Rosa is gonna challenge prosseco? No. I actually, we want to challenge provence. Really? Yeah. Exactly. But in terms of, in terms of, flavor profile and also color, you know, often those provence Roses are very, very light in color. What is a negro Amaro Rosay from the salento Polincio and Pulia light it look like in the glass? Yeah. Actually, our Rosier looks a little bit. It's closer to the look of a provence Rosier rather than any a classic Italian Rosier or southern Italian Rosier because it was a choice. Like, we want to to keep the identity of the region in the flavors. So this fruitiness, this body that usually in France, they don't have. They call it Pissin Roset. So, They're suing paul Roset. Pissin Roset. Yeah. If you say pissing Roset, it means No. Yeah. Sorry. That's the that's my pronunciation, but and, at the same time, we want it to be, a little bit more appealing for the international market. So that's why we had a a paler color, like a a lighter color. Okay. Next question about the Rosay is is it bone dry with less than two grams of sugar, or does it have a tiny little bit of residual sugar in there? It has it has around, three three grams of, of, residual sugar. So you feel it a little bit, and, and then, of course, you feel the fruitiness of it. Yeah. Less the fruit a bit. At the same time, we really are helped by the salinity of, of the wine, which is typical of puglia, even in the reds. So if I'm having a bottle of the rosé in Italy, what should I be drinking it with anywhere in Italy, not just in puglia, but if I well, what what people would drink in puglia and then outside puglia? I think where we are being, like, really love raw fish. Like, we love, it's like a different version of the Japanese culture. So we everything raw, especially the seafood. But I so I will suggest, a raw, like raw shrimps. But then, of course, even a tempura would be amazing with, with a rosier like that. Okay. So recent years, Pulia has been increasingly rediscovered or discovered by tourists, tourism, mainly foreigners rather than locals that italian. Is that true? Yeah. Actually, we've always been, a touristic destination within Italy, but we were completely undiscovered abroad. And then recently, there's an area of Pulia called Valeditria, which is between Bali and Brindisi. That is a place where a lot of beautiful, Masseria. Maseria is, kind of a fortified farmhouse have been revamped into resorts. So now it's becoming kind of a VIP destination. So Justin Timberlake married there Madona actually, canceled. Oh, I've got divorced there. You got divorced. And she drinks our califuri our Roset. She did a an Instagram story. Unfortunately, it wasn't like a post because the story disappears, but we, of course, we saved the video, and we, we kind of cherry at all. Yeah. Material Girl drinks Rosay. That's not sure if that works as a headliner. Materia Rosay. But it isn't they're a risk though that the charm of Pulia, it's rusticity almost. People that are very are very close to nature. You know, my, I, my father-in-law would go and milk, the sheep, munjidele Picquare, the one who is a little boy. Is there a danger that you probably is gonna lose some of its its naturalness and its wildness? No. That that's a very good question and gives me the opportunity warranty to give you the right answer because I think one of the special features of Pullia is that even when you're in a very luxury part of the of Pullia and, like, in a luxury resort, you always know you are in Pullia. So that's why the the, let's say, those, those resorts are amazing because you have, let's say, the the service is the cuddles of a luxury resort, but you are surrounded by olive trees. They let you do, I don't know, like, they harvest the summertime, they let you go around with the bikes in the in the countryside. So we we've been really good at keeping the identity, and that's what we are trying to do also with the wine. So I I'm quite optimistic about this. So I want more and more tourists to to visit Pulia because I'm sure and I'm confident we will keep the identity alive. You mentioned a little bit of organics. What is yours? What's the philosophy then, Antinori, with organics, down in Pulia? In the, let's say, in general, Antinori as, I would say, as a sustainable approach to end production. So it is, let's say, a matter of, consciousness in the use of of products, of chemical products, or, let's say, in general, with the agriculture, Boca Dirupa is organic. So, basically, we do the sexual confusion in the vineyard. Sometimes affects also myself when I'm there to I spent too much time in the vineyards. Why would you? Are you joking or No. I'm joking. Oh, okay. No. No. No. We do sexual confusion. So, that's the the main weapon we have. But in general, I would say that the organic approach, it's like a human that doesn't take medicines. So you have to prevent the illness so that force you to spend more time in the vineyard. And that's good also afterwards for the selection of the grape. So, the organic approach is not only a matter of not using herbicide or pesticide, but also it's like a way to have more focus on the grape. It's about positive intervention. Yep. Yeah. I mean, just the the sexual confusion is, a technique whereby you confuse in inverted commas, great berry moths, that can lay there, like laying their eggs in emerging grape berries, and then they will rot, not be very nice and impossible to make quality wine with. Have we got anything else? No. I wanna say, like, I'm sorry for my voice, but, it's just a matter of You had a big night last night. You were out until four o'clock in the morning. No. No. It's to stay in the character because my name is Vito. So when I'm abroad, I I pretend I am the godfather of Pulja. You don't look much like the godfather. Yeah. In Italian, they say, which means he's he's he's like a a thin as a post. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. A young godfather. Well, I know you don't think you're that young, are you? No. How old are you? I'm thirty five. Maybe you took about forty six, but I mean Yeah. We are. You're not not not doing too badly. I wanna say thanks to my guests today, Peter Polumbo who's given us a little window into Pulia via his work with Antinori's Tomaresca brand. Thank you very much for coming in. Thank you for having me. This podcast has been brought to you by Native Grape Odyssey, discovering the true essence of high quality wine from Europe. Find out more on native grape Odyssey dot e u. Enjoy. It's from Europe. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.